Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
bunch of bloody amateurs
It's not rocket science but tell me I'm wrong. How few small bookshops are there present, both on the streets or with a presence on the web? How hard has it become these days to find a decent bookshop where you can walk in & talk about books or, alternatively find a decent selection without being talked to when you don't want to be harassed? How hard is it to find a decent all-round bookseller full stop?
Large chain bookstores, mass market publishers & wannabe booksellers (Tesco) are the worst bunch of amateurs I've ever seen. They are completely incapable of understanding that you can't replace a poor-selling title with larger numbers of a better selling title. Try selling someone who comes in to buy a copy of say Tarjei Vesaas' Ice Palace a copy of Butcher's Blood River. Or the new autobio of Cherie Blair. Won't work. In fact I read a great quote in one of the free London papers when Mrs. Blair's autobio was coming out. "Let's face it," the reviewer wrote, "We'd all rather read Jordan's latest book than Cherie's book." Which says plenty for choice of reading material as well as English politics. I'm not slagging off the state of English politics, as I'm terrifically glad to be part of the harmony in this dynamic society. Amazon are even worse. We've all seen the ephitet "People who bought this book also bought..." It all smacks of desperation. Amazon know how untenable their situation is at the pole of international bookselling. Why else would there be ten million little buttons and extra little bits on any given page you visit on the Amazon site? In order for the structure of Amazon to work the consumer needs to be overawed by the vast domain incorporated into the site. If the consumer were not in awe of the massive co-ordination required of such a behemoth & damned certain of Amazon as being the easiest as well as the cheapest the whole premise of the virtual shop would all fall apart. In fact, I'm pretty certain that were such a realisation to take place, ten minutes of searching around on the web would find an alternative that was either quicker, cheaper, local, more ethical or simply more convenient.
With such a heavy emphasis on supporting local businesses it is possible that small independent bookshops will gradually find it possible to entice local customers back through their physical & virtual doors. It is also entirely possible that Amazon will remain the Microsoft of virtual commerce & that small bookshops will become somewhat ephemeral installations before they close down. Bookshops will always be around somewhere in the background the question really is how long will they be around for & how reliable will the service be? Can owners of already large & established stores who let's face facts only need to manage profit margins be persuaded that bookselling as a profession is a viable alternative to shifting numbers?
Or, and here's something that I would personally find fitting, let's have phd candidates in tweed jackets & bespectacled arty students behind the desks at Tesco's pushing Dickens and Hunter S. Thompson. Let's have Amazon sending free sample chapters of Ibsen along with the latest tome on the Bush dynasty. If you're going to do something might as well do it all the way.
Large chain bookstores, mass market publishers & wannabe booksellers (Tesco) are the worst bunch of amateurs I've ever seen. They are completely incapable of understanding that you can't replace a poor-selling title with larger numbers of a better selling title. Try selling someone who comes in to buy a copy of say Tarjei Vesaas' Ice Palace a copy of Butcher's Blood River. Or the new autobio of Cherie Blair. Won't work. In fact I read a great quote in one of the free London papers when Mrs. Blair's autobio was coming out. "Let's face it," the reviewer wrote, "We'd all rather read Jordan's latest book than Cherie's book." Which says plenty for choice of reading material as well as English politics. I'm not slagging off the state of English politics, as I'm terrifically glad to be part of the harmony in this dynamic society. Amazon are even worse. We've all seen the ephitet "People who bought this book also bought..." It all smacks of desperation. Amazon know how untenable their situation is at the pole of international bookselling. Why else would there be ten million little buttons and extra little bits on any given page you visit on the Amazon site? In order for the structure of Amazon to work the consumer needs to be overawed by the vast domain incorporated into the site. If the consumer were not in awe of the massive co-ordination required of such a behemoth & damned certain of Amazon as being the easiest as well as the cheapest the whole premise of the virtual shop would all fall apart. In fact, I'm pretty certain that were such a realisation to take place, ten minutes of searching around on the web would find an alternative that was either quicker, cheaper, local, more ethical or simply more convenient.
With such a heavy emphasis on supporting local businesses it is possible that small independent bookshops will gradually find it possible to entice local customers back through their physical & virtual doors. It is also entirely possible that Amazon will remain the Microsoft of virtual commerce & that small bookshops will become somewhat ephemeral installations before they close down. Bookshops will always be around somewhere in the background the question really is how long will they be around for & how reliable will the service be? Can owners of already large & established stores who let's face facts only need to manage profit margins be persuaded that bookselling as a profession is a viable alternative to shifting numbers?
Or, and here's something that I would personally find fitting, let's have phd candidates in tweed jackets & bespectacled arty students behind the desks at Tesco's pushing Dickens and Hunter S. Thompson. Let's have Amazon sending free sample chapters of Ibsen along with the latest tome on the Bush dynasty. If you're going to do something might as well do it all the way.
Friday, June 20, 2008
they rise up, knees up, knees up..
So I'm back from the festival in Paris which was quite frankly astounding. I sold some books, bought some books, left some books behind and got a whole new reading list.
For those of us who don't really feel like handing in to the large consumer empire I discovered a shining example of commonsense in André Schiffrin. Son of Jacques Schiffrin who started both 'La Serie Pleiade' and the Pantheon Press, André advocates the decentralisation of the book publishing industry which by extension can be made for the bookselling industry too. Centralisation encourages the homogenisation of an industry which, for the most part, has played its most important roles in the communication of revolutionary ideas and then counter-revolutionary ideas. It is also, by any account, an industry which thrives economically on that which is personal and quirky. You can't sell a million books the same way you can sell a million ipods. Here's how it works.
Bookshops mostly have their ordering done for them by central hubs. I won't go into any details but you know who the culprits are. Thus the ordering is done by popularity, what sells the most and is in The Bookseller as a best-seller is ordered in and kept in order to satisfy popular demand. Fine. What is not fine is the refusal of booksellers to stock a book on the grounds that it won't be profitable enough. Well, y'know guess what? Books don't make money if you only have the same ones in stock! Whereas six people might each buy a copy of one book and six other customers buy a copy of any other book, if you don't have the variety in stock you'll only sell seven of the original best-seller to those twelve customers.
And it makes sense. The same principles that apply to the book publishing world apply themselves to book-selling too. And it ain't easy.I have a small selection of about four books right now that I can sell to individuals. Some books that I sold out of within a week of being in the bookshop (hand-to-hand def my forte) were never replaced on the grounds that they would never sell again and I remember another instance of where I sold five or six copies of a book in a week and it was 'replenished' with twelve copies as opposed to the original five. (which makes no sense because I'm not going to be able to find more people to buy more of the same book based on the same time frame) And no matter how many people come in to the bookshop and tell me it's a nice place I have to be honest. I look around at the austerity and the impersonality of the shop and I know that it's all a little forced. The Bookshop, when I arrived had really excellent staff, tremendously knowledgeable booksellers who loved what they did. And now of the original set up only two or three besides the management staff are left. It's been at least 4 months since I stopped telling certain people I work there because I find it just a tad uncomfortable.
If you have managerial status and are looking into how to make more money in your business without turning into a mere vending machine, book-selling by the best-selling numbers read André Schiffrin's book The Business of Books. I need to go to work right now otherwise i'll have one less reason to be able to call myself a bookseller. More on this issue later on.
For those of us who don't really feel like handing in to the large consumer empire I discovered a shining example of commonsense in André Schiffrin. Son of Jacques Schiffrin who started both 'La Serie Pleiade' and the Pantheon Press, André advocates the decentralisation of the book publishing industry which by extension can be made for the bookselling industry too. Centralisation encourages the homogenisation of an industry which, for the most part, has played its most important roles in the communication of revolutionary ideas and then counter-revolutionary ideas. It is also, by any account, an industry which thrives economically on that which is personal and quirky. You can't sell a million books the same way you can sell a million ipods. Here's how it works.
Bookshops mostly have their ordering done for them by central hubs. I won't go into any details but you know who the culprits are. Thus the ordering is done by popularity, what sells the most and is in The Bookseller as a best-seller is ordered in and kept in order to satisfy popular demand. Fine. What is not fine is the refusal of booksellers to stock a book on the grounds that it won't be profitable enough. Well, y'know guess what? Books don't make money if you only have the same ones in stock! Whereas six people might each buy a copy of one book and six other customers buy a copy of any other book, if you don't have the variety in stock you'll only sell seven of the original best-seller to those twelve customers.
And it makes sense. The same principles that apply to the book publishing world apply themselves to book-selling too. And it ain't easy.I have a small selection of about four books right now that I can sell to individuals. Some books that I sold out of within a week of being in the bookshop (hand-to-hand def my forte) were never replaced on the grounds that they would never sell again and I remember another instance of where I sold five or six copies of a book in a week and it was 'replenished' with twelve copies as opposed to the original five. (which makes no sense because I'm not going to be able to find more people to buy more of the same book based on the same time frame) And no matter how many people come in to the bookshop and tell me it's a nice place I have to be honest. I look around at the austerity and the impersonality of the shop and I know that it's all a little forced. The Bookshop, when I arrived had really excellent staff, tremendously knowledgeable booksellers who loved what they did. And now of the original set up only two or three besides the management staff are left. It's been at least 4 months since I stopped telling certain people I work there because I find it just a tad uncomfortable.
If you have managerial status and are looking into how to make more money in your business without turning into a mere vending machine, book-selling by the best-selling numbers read André Schiffrin's book The Business of Books. I need to go to work right now otherwise i'll have one less reason to be able to call myself a bookseller. More on this issue later on.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Slapping Dawkins
"This book is too old! It can't be that much" Yes and the idiot brigade strikes me effortlessly out again. The above was immediately followed by, "I'm sorry but I'm just going to get it up the road at Borders".
First of all: If you're not buying the book stop fingering it. You'll scuff it & devalue it & it's just badmannered.
Second of all: Stop glaring at me as if I took your daughters virginity; I know I make up the prices but I make them up according to a specific set of rules and in any case she should be so lucky. In all likelihood I wouldn't touch her with someone elses.
Finally: Just get out. Use the two brain cells you have to rub together enough motion to just get out the door. After that you're someone else's problem. Not the bar around the corner because I go there andwould prefer never to see your face again.
"It is a bit steep sir, I agree," I gingerly take back the offending article, "Though may I suggest Foyles rather than Borders? The staff there are so much more knowledgeable about these things."
The thing about bookshops & I'm not sure if I've mentioned saying this before is that the perfect bookshop has no customers in it. I'm not saying I don't want to sell any books but I really wish there were a vetting process for really rare & beautiful books that you had to sell. Selling a new book is just so much of a different process. Selling something rare that you have cared for, restored, read, kept on your shelf, investigated the history of, feel close to... A new book is one among millions that you can ship to anyone of a discerning palate. You're not necessarily selling a book as you are selling your customer the time to read that particular book. Don't get me wrong, the contents are important, but in only so far as the text goes.
A rare book. Something of which maybe only 1,500 was printed. Of which most have rotted away due to awful paper standards and worse bindings. The dustjacket still entirely intact. With a rare book every square micometer of anything visible or not is important and noticed. Filed away in the booksellers memory for future reference. If it's a good book or even a very good book, not just a big title or name like Woolf or Salinger, its rarity becomes sharper. An object almost worthy of worship. Iconic. Think Jimi Hendrix 1968 Fender Stratocaster.
Perhaps for the rest of the world this is not so. But I don't walk into mosques & churches & monasteries proclaiming loudly the futility of their religion. Or slap Richard Dawkins in the face for being Richard Dawkins. Live & let live, I say. I once had an argument with God in a church at full volume but She was the only one around. It's not important that someone doesn't believe in what a book does, what's important is that I do. I want to slap Dawkins in the face because I believe he's well intentioned but I respectfully sell his books & get paid for doing so brimming with good vibrations. It's the only way to get a customer to come back so's I can set them on the right track.
Finally here's a bookseller story I heard somewhere:
Boy walks up to a bookseller & asks if he has a book in stock. Bookseller isn't entirely sure he heard right so asks the boy to repeat the title he's looking for.
Boy: Do you have the Lion the Witch & the Warzone?
Bookseller (sighing heavily): Young man the book I'm going to sell you is considerably less interesting than the one you have in mind.
First of all: If you're not buying the book stop fingering it. You'll scuff it & devalue it & it's just badmannered.
Second of all: Stop glaring at me as if I took your daughters virginity; I know I make up the prices but I make them up according to a specific set of rules and in any case she should be so lucky. In all likelihood I wouldn't touch her with someone elses.
Finally: Just get out. Use the two brain cells you have to rub together enough motion to just get out the door. After that you're someone else's problem. Not the bar around the corner because I go there andwould prefer never to see your face again.
"It is a bit steep sir, I agree," I gingerly take back the offending article, "Though may I suggest Foyles rather than Borders? The staff there are so much more knowledgeable about these things."
The thing about bookshops & I'm not sure if I've mentioned saying this before is that the perfect bookshop has no customers in it. I'm not saying I don't want to sell any books but I really wish there were a vetting process for really rare & beautiful books that you had to sell. Selling a new book is just so much of a different process. Selling something rare that you have cared for, restored, read, kept on your shelf, investigated the history of, feel close to... A new book is one among millions that you can ship to anyone of a discerning palate. You're not necessarily selling a book as you are selling your customer the time to read that particular book. Don't get me wrong, the contents are important, but in only so far as the text goes.
A rare book. Something of which maybe only 1,500 was printed. Of which most have rotted away due to awful paper standards and worse bindings. The dustjacket still entirely intact. With a rare book every square micometer of anything visible or not is important and noticed. Filed away in the booksellers memory for future reference. If it's a good book or even a very good book, not just a big title or name like Woolf or Salinger, its rarity becomes sharper. An object almost worthy of worship. Iconic. Think Jimi Hendrix 1968 Fender Stratocaster.
Perhaps for the rest of the world this is not so. But I don't walk into mosques & churches & monasteries proclaiming loudly the futility of their religion. Or slap Richard Dawkins in the face for being Richard Dawkins. Live & let live, I say. I once had an argument with God in a church at full volume but She was the only one around. It's not important that someone doesn't believe in what a book does, what's important is that I do. I want to slap Dawkins in the face because I believe he's well intentioned but I respectfully sell his books & get paid for doing so brimming with good vibrations. It's the only way to get a customer to come back so's I can set them on the right track.
Finally here's a bookseller story I heard somewhere:
Boy walks up to a bookseller & asks if he has a book in stock. Bookseller isn't entirely sure he heard right so asks the boy to repeat the title he's looking for.
Boy: Do you have the Lion the Witch & the Warzone?
Bookseller (sighing heavily): Young man the book I'm going to sell you is considerably less interesting than the one you have in mind.
Search
my advertisement
littlesnapper
ABA
Damn Good Books
Forsyth
Frankenstein
Kite-Runner
Literature
Marian Keyes
Orwell
Oxfam
Persia
Snobs
Snow Crash
Suskind
The Boss
amateurs
bookselling
cult
festival
film books
gorgeous
independents
insanity
insomnia
screw-ups
the Irish
thelittlesnapper
yummy mummy
Albums
Yeh-Got-Ta-Hav'it
